Rural skill pat for Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Centre has adjudged Odisha as the best state in the country in skill development of rural youth.

Odisha will be presented with the Prime Minister’s award for this on May 5. The state has bagged the award for the second time in two years.

“We are proud that Odisha has successfully trained and ensured employment for a record 96,000 rural youth under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY). Our Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (Ormas), with its out-of-the-box initiatives for ‘Quality with Quantity’, accounts for one-fifth of National target,” chief minister Naveen Patnaik said in a Facebook post on Tueday.

“Many renowned national and multinational companies are preferring our skilled youth. More heartening is the fact that other states are studying the Odisha model to replicate it for skilling their youth,” he said.

He also congratulated the state panchayati raj department and Ormas for the achievement.

“Let us continue to march ahead with collective efforts to give shape to our vision of making “Skilled In Odisha”, the best in the world. And, one day the world will ask if you were skilled in Odisha,” he added.

“This award of makes us feel that the lofty goal we have set for ourselves and the hard work we are putting in is worth the effort. It will give us inspiration to stay on the course, because this is going to be a long haul,” he added.